Getting There By Air:Capital International Airport (PEK) Tel: (10) 6454 1100.
Website:
www.bcia.com.cn Beijing’s airport is located 28km (17 miles) northeast of the city center. The main international terminal opened in 1999 for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC and now hosts 66 local and domestic airlines offering more than 5,000 scheduled flights linking Beijing with 88 Chinese and 69 international cities. More than 40 foreign airlines have booking offices
in Beijing. As part of Beijing’s pre-Olympic overhaul, Lord Norman Foster’s glittering new terminal three will open in 2008. Claiming to be ‘the world’s largest and most advanced airport building,’ it will accommodate 43 million passengers per year, rising to 53 million by 2015. A second international airport is also currently being planned outside the city itself.
Approximate flight times to Beijing: From London is 10 hours 10 minutes; from New York is 14 hours 40 minutes; from Los Angeles is 12 hours 30 minutes; from Toronto is 16 hours 20 minutes and from Sydney is 13 hours 30 minutes.
Airport facilities: These include bureaux de change, ATM, hotel reservations and transfers, duty free and other shops, cafés, restaurants, left-luggage and tourist information.
Transport to the city: Metered taxis are available at the airport (journey time - 45-60 minutes). The
Airport-City Shuttle Bus (tel: (10) 6459 4375) departs every 30 minutes (0800-2230) from outside arrivals hall No. 11. Buses take five routes into the city - the most popular is to Xidan in central Beijing, a short walk from the Forbidden City. The other routes are to Fangzhuang,
Beijing Railway Station, Gongzhufen in western Beijing, Zhongguancun hi-tech park in the city’s northwest district (journey time - 35-60 minutes). Shuttle buses to the airport leave regularly throughout the day from the China Aviation Building, and from both the China Art Gallery and Zhongguancun.
Getting There By Road:A Chinese driving license is required to drive in China and driving is illegal for those on a tourist visa. Foreign residents may bring their own cars into the country but this involves a huge bureaucratic effort. Holders of resident’s permits may apply for a Chinese driving license but again this is involves a great deal of bureaucracy.
Sometimes statistics speak loudest; 3.04 million cars were sold in China during the first 10 months of 2006, up 40% year on year - 80% of which were snapped up by first-time owners. Driving is chaotic, traffic can get extremely congested during morning and evening rush hours and little attention is paid to rules and regulations. Road signs are in both Chinese and English, though the translation quality is inconsistent (something the authorities are addressing pre-2008). Therefore, all foreigners who want to travel by car within China are recommended to hire a car with a local driver.
Emergency breakdown service: There is no breakdown service in China. Drivers have to rely on assistance from other passing vehicles.
Routes to the city: Main routes out of Beijing are denoted by city names such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Expressway, Beijing-Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan Expressway, Beijing-Shenyang Expressway and Beijing-Chengde-Zhangjiakou First Class Road.
Driving times to Beijing: From Tianjin - 1 hour 30 minutes; Chengde - 3 hours 30 minutes; Taiyuan - 6 hours.
Coach services: Coach and bus travel can be very slow and rather uncomfortable and, due to Beijing’s inland location (a long way from the major east coast cities), ranks a distant third to air and rail travel. However, bus tickets are cheaper than rail fares and easier to buy because of the lower demand. There are few facilities at the bus stations and tickets should be bought in person at the ticket office. Generally, the four main long-distance bus stations in Beijing are situated on the perimeter of the city in the direction of their destination. Dongzhimen, Dongzhimen Xiejie (this station is currently being upgraded into a transport hub ready for 2008), serves the northeast and cities such as Chengde; Haihutin, Nanyuan Lu, serves the south; Beijiao (also known as Deshengmen) is for the north; and Majuan, Guangqumenwai Dajie, serves the east. In addition, buses to Tianjin depart from Zhaogongku, near the intersection of Nansanhuan Donglu and Puhuangyu Lu.
Getting There By Rail:The national railway service within China, operated by the
Ministry of Railways, is extensive and new high-speed tracks are being built (at a total cost of RMB 1 trillion) across the nation to improve access and reduce journey times. From 18 April 2007, China will boost the speed of its rail system for the sixth time. Passenger trains on ordinary lines will run at around 200kph (124mph), and on trunk lines at 250kph (155mph) an hour. Beijing has two main railway stations - with an underground rail link between them currently being constructed. Undergoing renovation and expansion, Beijing Railway Station (tel: (10) 6512 9525 - Chinese language only) serves routes to the north and east of the city and the newer Beijing West Railway Station (tel: (10) 6321 6253 - Chinese language only), which is Asia’s largest rail terminal, serves the south and west. Other stations in Beijing serve the suburban routes. Both main stations have left-luggage facilities, ATMs, tourist information, shops and restaurants. All Chinese express trains have four different classes - soft sleeper, soft seat, hard sleeper and hard seat. Tickets can be bought at the foreigners’ booking office in each station; passports are required to make the purchase. Reservations, especially for sleepers, should be made two or three days in advance. An excellent English-language train timetable can be found online (website:
www.ctrip.com).
Rail services: Trans-Manchurian services to Moscow (journey time - 6 days) and
Trans-Mongolian trains to Ulan Bator and Moscow (journey time - 5 days) leave from Beijing Railway Station, as do trains to Pyongyang in North Korea (journey time - 25 hours). The China-Tibet railway (website:
www.chinatibettrain.com) opened in 2006 and can be joined at Beijing West Railway Station. The 4,064km (2,525-mile) journey between Beijing and Lhasa takes 48 hours. Trains to Hong Kong (journey time - 27 hours) and Vietnam (journey time - 43 hours) leave from Beijing West Station. Although both main stations have special ticket desks for foreign travelers, ticket purchasing can still be confusing. However, tickets can also be bought through
China International Travel Service (CITS) (tel: (10) 6515 8587). Most hotels can also make ticket bookings for a small fee, by using the Chinese-language booking line (tel: 6509 3783). The main railway stations for domestic journeys are Beijing Station and Beijing West. Journey times for domestic services to Beijing are: Harbin - 14 hours; Shanghai - 12 hours; Xian - 15 hours; Guangzhou - 24 hours.
Getting Around:
Public TransportThe public transport system, especially the
bus system, is rarely attempted by foreign visitors unless they have a good understanding of Mandarin Chinese. Travel by
subway or taxi (see
Taxis below) is by far the easier option.
City
buses run 0530-2300 and are very crowded, particularly in the rush hours (0630-0830 and 1700-1900). There is also a limited night service between 2300 and 0530. Fares are paid to the conductor. It is important to have the destination written in Chinese as the conductor almost certainly will not speak English.
Fast, cheap and efficient, the
subway (0530-2300) is an appealing alternative, although the trains can be packed during rush hours. The subway consists of two main lines: the East-West Line runs from Pingguoyuan to Sihui Dong, and the Ring Line follows a circular route, mirroring the Second Ring Road. The ‘13 line’ operates in the north of the city, connecting Dongzhimen and Xizhimen Ring Line stations, and the ‘Ba Tong’ Line 1 extension threads further east as far as Tuqiao.s. But those are just tasters - by 2020 Beijing will have the world’s longest metro system, featuring 19 lines that will stretch a total of 561km (349 miles). Three new subway lines, plus an airport link, are due for completion by 2008 . Entrances are marked by a logo of a square inside a ‘C’ shape and there is a flat rate depending on the length of the journey. Tickets can be purchased from the ticket offices above the platforms. Signs and announcements are in Chinese and English.
TaxisTaxis are plentiful (around 42,000 ply the capital’s streets daily), cheap and metered. They wait around major department stores, hotels and railway stations and can be hailed on the street. Taxis in Beijing are mostly small, red hatchbacks or saloons (known as
xiali). All taxis have a sticker in the back window that indicates the rate per kilometer. It is important to write the destination in Chinese as most drivers are unlikely to speak English. Tipping is not expected. It is best to ask the hotel concierge/reception or restaurant to call a cab, as taxi companies in Beijing are in a real flux at the moment, and phone numbers change very often.
Driving in the CityFew short-term visitors to Beijing attempt to drive there, as hiring a car is a lengthy process, parking is difficult and car hire is restricted to the city limits. Visitors would also need to be in possession of a Chinese driving license, which can only be obtained by those holding a resident’s permit. Although road regulations do exist, they are regularly ignored and it is not uncommon to see aggressive lane-swapping by buses and taxis or even traffic going the wrong way on roads or roundabouts. Theoretically, traffic drives on the right but on smaller roads this is not always adhered to. It is important to remember that in the case of an accident it will always be assumed that the foreigner is at fault.
Car HireHire car options are beginning to open up in Beijing, though the car usually comes with a driver, and familiar foreign rental agencies are only slowly breaking into the market.
Avis (tel: (21) 6229 1119; website:
www.avischina.com) has a reliable online booking service.
Bicycle HireAs China has the highest number of bicycles anywhere in the world, it also has an enormous supply of bicycle rental outlets. Although Chinese roads are unpredictable and at times fairly lawless and dangerous, hiring a bike can be preferable to relying on public transport. There are bike lanes on all main roads in Beijing, although these are filled with several thousand cyclists during rush hours.
Bicycles can be rented from many hostels and hotels. Another central option is
Kingdom Bike Rental B402-5, Oriental Plaza, Wangfujing Dajie, Doncheng District (tel: (86) 1338 1400 738; website:
www.bicyclekingdom.com).
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The Columbus World Travel Guide has been published for 26 years and is sold in over 90 countries worldwide.
Word Travels is a comprehensive travel guide covering hundreds of cities and holiday resorts in more than 125 countries.
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